Article 370 : SC Constitution Bench Adjourns Hearing Till November 14 For Centre's Reply

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till November 14 the hearing the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of repeal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and the bifurcation and downgrading of the state into two Union Territories.

This was based on the request made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government, for time to file counter affidavits in individual petitions.

The  bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant allowed four weeks time to file counter affidavits to the cases, and one week time thereafter for petitioners to file rejoinders to the counter affidavits.

Ten petitions filed by different petitioners were listed before the bench.

Advocate M L Sharma, Farooq Ahmad Dhar, Shakir Shabir, Saoyib Qureshi, National Conference leader Mohammad Akbar Lone, Inder Salim, JK politician and former IAS officer Shah Faesal, JK political activist Shehla Rashid, JK Peoples Conference, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami etc are some of the petitioners.